The final report for the Rock Creek East II Livability Study is out and it recommends traffic calming as well as an expanded bicycle network to address safety issues and discontinuity in the existing bicycle facilities. But adding bicycle lanes is - in some cases - going to require removing parking, which is always politically difficult.

Of the dedicated bicycle facilities in the study area, 14th Street is the only corridor that has a continuous connection through the study area. Other than this, there are no dedicated facilities west of Kansas and Georgia Avenues. Many of the streets in the study area feature limited rights-of-way and do not readily fit two bicycle lanes in their cross-sections without removal of on-street parking.

Many participants expressed general concern over the impacts to parking with the implementation of bicycle and traffic calming facilities.

The primary losses of parking associated with recommendations are anticipated to be for the bicycle lanes along Kansas Avenue between Spring Road and Georgia Avenue and for the sidewalk extension along Blagden Avenue

Nonetheless, the study recommendations included five project types, of which one is bicycle network expansion

Bicycle System Expansions that extend the current bicycle network. This includes a mix of a variety of bicycle facilities, including bicycle boulevards, bicycle lanes, and contraflow bicycle lanes. In some locations, the type of bicycle facility is not yet known, and would require further study.

For extending the Bicycle Network, the report calls for extending current routes west of Georgia Avenue and creating a north-south alternative to Georgia Avenue along 8th Streeet. It also gives more clarity - though not perfect - on what is meant by a "bicycle boulevard".

The study recommends several bicycle facilities: bicycle lanes, contraflow bicycle lanes, and bicycle boulevards. Some study recommendations need further study to determine the most appropriate type of bicycle facility.

A bicycle boulevard, as implemented in the District, are streets that are already well-suited for bicycling (usually local street functional classification), that seek to attract bicyclists to the route by adding pavement markings, enhanced signage and wayfinding, and other treatments. The streets identified for potential bicycle boulevard treatment should be analyzed for speed and volume of motor vehicle traffic.

Bicycle boulevards can usually be implemented with no impacts to parking. However, they are sometimes enhanced with traffic calming devices to enhance bicycle and overall transportation safety. If this is necessary, it may result in the loss of some parking spaces. This will be determined in the design phase

The proposed bicycle network and projects hasn't changed any from that presented in August, but there are now redesigns of Grant and Sherman Circle. Draft concepts of the former includes bike lanes and the latter, a separated bike facility

Grant Circle

Sherman Circle

There's also a rendering of Sherman Circle which would be redesigned as a 'Dutch Roundabout'.

There is also a proposal for an extension of Shepherd Street as a Multi-Use Path, though elsewhere they say it is for pedestrians.

This recommendation is for a short connection from the present dead-end of Shepherd Street west of 14th Street to the forthcoming Rock Creek Trail branch under planning and design by the National Park Service. This would formalize an existing pedestrian path that is visibly evident and help to improve access to Rock Creek Park.

Other Recommended projects include

Enhancements to crossing at 16th/Blagden intersection to allow safer pedestrian and bike access to Blagden; studying feasibility of a HAWK signal

Bike boxes and added crosswalks at Kansas/4th/ Hamilton

Reconfigure radii and crossings at Piney Branch/Arkansas, potentially combining with NPS efforts on trail construction. At a minimum this can be achieved with paint and flex post installation for a shorter-term treatment

Late last month DDOT Director Dormsjo went to an ANC 6A Transportation Committee Meeting where the Florida Avenue Multi-Modal Transportation Study came up. I reported on February 26th that the final report was due in May 2014, but wasn't yet on the website. Well, later that day they posted it (Dated February 2015).

The study area is centered on Florida Avenue NE between North Capital and the starburst and is bisected by the Metropolitan Branch Trail and the map below shows the locations of bike crashes as well as existing bicycle facilities and those proposed in the 2005 bike plan. One major goal of the study is to improve safety, and an analysis of crashes shows them focused around West Virginia Avenue and the blocks around Dave Thomas Circle at New York Avenue.

The study developed several alternatives, some with bike lanes or sharrows and some without, including ones not covered in this GGW piece from 2014, but I'm just going to write about the preferred alternative today. (The full set of alternatives is discussed in part 1 of the Report)

Major arterials are often not the most appropriate location for bicycle facilities, particularly if adequate lower volume, lower speed parallel streets can be used. As a major east-west route in the District of Columbia, few parallel facilities provide the directness and lack of obstacles available on Florida Avenue, hence the thoughtful reasoning for bike lanes on portions of the corridor. Despite the inclusion of bike lanes, some design challenges must be addressed.

Starting on the west end, the preferred alternative eliminates an eastbound travel lane to create a shared use path on the south side of Florida Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Street NE, and cyclists in both directions will be routed to the south side of the street to use this facility. It will then transition to a shared-use lane (sharrows) under the railroad overpass due to the constrained environment under the overpass and the need for westbound auto capacity. Between 3rd Street NE and 8th Street NE it includes bike lanes in both directions b. The section of Florida Avenue between 8th Street NE and West Virginia Avenue may or may not include bike lanes and will be evaluated at the design level to determine if it is feasible.

Clearly, it makes sense to continue the bike lane to West Virginia Avenue, a major north-south bicycle route. However, with a widened sidewalk and inclusion of an eastbound left-turn lane, space is very limited in this section of Florida Avenue....This 500-foot section where the bike lane abruptly begins/ends must be addressed during the design phase. The most logical “fix” is incorporating a shared left/through lane instead of the proposed left-turn lane, which provides the available width for two bike lanes. However, this may also compromise auto safety and travel time due to the heavy eastbound left-turn volumes that exist today and are projected to increase in the future. Other design modifications should be considered in the project design phase.

There will be no buffered bike lanes and no protected bike lanes (as included in some of the alternatives and supported by many residents), just normal bike lanes.

due to the overlying need to widen sidewalks and maintain auto mobility a fully protected bike facility on Florida Avenue is not recommended.

You can see the blocks with bike facilities on the figure above (which is out of order because of the pdf and me being too lazy to fix it).

Cyclists heading east would start on a shared use path at 2nd and transition to a bike lane at 3rd, with the bike lane ending at 8th. West bound cyclists are expected to ride in the bike lane from 8th to 3rd, then cross in the crosswalk to the south side and use the path to go one block and then ???. I just don't see west-bound cyclists behaving that way. DDOT writes

Today, westbound autos often queue from New York Avenue and 2nd Street NE through 3rd Street NE, and in some cases, through 4th Street NE. This heavy queuing occurs despite the presence of three westbound travel lanes, which is not consistent with the two proposed westbound travel lanes east of 3rd Street NE. As a result, no changes to the westbound cross section were proposed west of 3rd Street NE under the Metro overpass, which in turn, leaves no space for sidewalk widening or a bike lane on the north side. The proposal does however incorporate a shared-use path on the south side of Florida Avenue, essentially widening the existing sidewalk into the curbside travel lane resulting in two eastbound travel lanes between 2nd and 3rd Street NE. The shared-use space, which would be approximately 15 feet wide under the overpass, would accommodate two-way pedestrian and bicycle traffic and would likely offer some form of demarcation between pedestrians and bicyclists. Pedestrians could also continue to use the sidewalk on the north side of the street and westbound bicyclists could continue to travel westbound in mixed traffic as they do today. Special bicycle turning provisions will also be required for westbound cyclists at 3rd Street to allow safe and efficient access to the south-side shared-use path.

There are also bike boxes at 6th Street and a two-stage turn queue box for those turning north into the protected bike lanes on 6th St NE.

On 6th Street NE, it would extend the two-way PBL that currently ends at Florida Ave all the way to K Street, thereby replacing the existing bike lanes. [Aside, at a recent meeting we were told that there might be several future projects that replace bike lane pairs with 2-way PBLs, especially on Capitol Hill. So we may see more of this]

West Virginia Ave NE would get bike lanes all the way past Owen Place NE, but not right at the corner with Florida Ave. These have been identified as something that could be done before the design is completed and work begins in 2021.

The report also covers ways to make the "Virtual Circle" aka "Dave Thomas Circle" safer and recommends bike lanes and signs to connect Eckington Place and First Street NE in both directions.

[Aside: I learned that this little triangle is an NPS reservation, and to avoid disturbing it, the report recommends shifting the road north]

Late next year, DDOT plans to perform a complete reconstruction of the two blocks of Florida Avenue between U Street and Barry Place. In addition to pedestrian, stormwater, traffic signal and utility improvements, the project will add bike lanes. Depending on how accurate a 2012 presentation on the area is, the design will include bike lanes on Vermont between Florida and V, bike boxes on Florida at Vermont, and and a combination of bike lanes and sharrowed lanes on Florida Avenue and Sherman. Combined with the work at Florida and 15th, it should lead to bike lanes on the entirety of Florida Avenue between 9th and 15th. Right now the project is awaiting ROW acquisition and won't go out to bid until June, with construction scheduled to start in October and end in May 2016.

DDOT has been planning to improve this part of Florida Avenue for over a decade now. A couple of plans, the 2004 Duke Plan and the 2007 Great Streets plan, had designs for this area which included among other things, reconnecting W and Bryant Streets and adding a traffic circle in at the intersection of Florida and Sherman Avenue. Those items do not appear to be a part of this reconstruction project. A more modest redesign was on the table in 2008, but that did not include bike lanes and it appears that the work was never done.

One of the 2011 designs, via GreaterGreaterWashington (south is to the left)

The only image included in the Ward 1 update is for Green Infrastructure improvements, and doesn't show striping. But it does look similar to the 2012 plan, so it appears that much of the design will remain the same.

If the 2012 plan is followed, then 9th between U and V will have sharrows. Florida between V and Vermont will have southbound sharrows and northbound bike lane. Between Vermont and W, Florida will have a northbound bike lane and combination of a bike lane and sharrows in the southbound direction. None of these bike lanes will be next to parking, and the northbound section shown above will be separated from most traffic by a landscaped median (though parking and a traffic lane will also be east of the median too). North of W, the bike lane will be painted green to Sherman Avenue and placed between the turning lane and the thru traffic lane. The bike lane/sharrow combination will then continue to Barry Place. Bike lanes will also be added to Sherman between Florida and Barry Place.

“To be honest, it’s not a statement, it’s not an experiment,” Armstrong told the Register. “It’s just me wanting to go ride my bike with what in the past has been a friendly group of people who share the same interests.”

At NoMa's July 4th bash "Awards will be given to the best decorated bicycle, tricycle, 4-wheeler (wagon), and dog. There will be a Parade Decoration Station with materials for children to decorate their bicycles" You can also bike to the Palisades Parade with Tommy Wells and BicycleSpace.

Virginia may develop the air rights over I-66 near Rosslyn and East Falls Church Metro stations. These developments could represent opportunities to improve the Custis and W&OD Trails in those areas. "Arlington County is currently undertaking a review of the Rosslyn Sector Plan. As part of that process, development over I-66 in the northern and eastern edges of the Rosslyn Metro Station area can be evaluated. While there are no existing mixed-use development rights over the I-66 right-of-way at either Rosslyn or the East Falls Church Metro Station location, the East Falls Church Area Plan currently supports mixed use development on VDOT and WMATA's property next to I-66." Here's more with pictures of the areas.

Cindy Sheehan's cross-country bike ride, the "Tour de Peace" wound up coming into town across the Memorial Bridge at the same time that the pro-gun rights "Toy Gun March" was crossing the same bridge. "I didn't even know about another march across the street," said anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan with a laugh.

In Montreal, many apartment leases start on the same day of the year (July 1), leading to a shortage of moving trucks. So what does one do? "Aside from people simply carrying their worldly goods by hand down streets, some novel solutions to the congestion and cost have emerged. Claire Poirier said she was skeptical after learning that her two daughters had hired bicycle-powered movers to supplement two family cars for their move. But as family members looked on, the movers, Yohann Mouchboeuf and David Pelletier, piled and strapped two couches, a box spring, a bed frame, two mattresses, a large bookcase, a stove and full-sized refrigerator on two bicycle trailers before pedaling off. "

At an ANC meeting this week (as reported by GGW), DDOT presented preliminary concepts for the two blocks of 15th Street NW north of U. Currently a bike lane - on the right hand side and opposite the cycletrack - exists on 15th Street.

The new design would extend the cycletrack, still protected by parked cars, along the west side of 15th all the way to Euclid. But the extension might look different - possibly better - than what is south of U

DDOT could just build the cycle track in this intersection along the edge of the roadway, separated with poles, as with the rest of the cycle track today. Other options, though, elevate it up to sidewalk level like many European cities do. The tree boxes would still separate the track from the sidewalk, but then one of a few different curb treatments would divide it from the roadway.

At the meeting, DDOT planner Gabriela Vega said the agency was still weighing the pros and cons of the last three designs' barriers between the cycle track and the parking lane. The barriers in the last three designs all include permeable pavers that allow the ground to absorb more stormwater.

You can see these designs in the image below.

In addition to the more definitive separation between the cycletrack, sidewalk and roadway, you can see that at the intersection, the space at the end of the parking is filled with a stormwater planter.

In addition to the extended cycletrack, the design shows bike boxes at every approach to the "Death Star" intersection and a bike lane on Florida north of W (where currently there is none).

There are two options for how to align the intersection, but for cyclists I don't see much of a difference, though one shows painted bike boxes and the other does not, I think that might be an oversight, not a design difference.

My only concern about this is the possibility of conflict between downhill and uphill cyclists on 15th north of W. Cyclists in one direction could be going very fast, and cyclists in the other might be looking down as they pump their way up the hill. I fear it could be an opportunity for a very bad head-on collision. Perhaps the cycletrack needs to be wider there.

Research shows that urban greening creates activity that drives away crime. And RTC points out that trails create the same kind of activity. Despite this fact, people fear that trails will bring crime.

ANC 5C is meeting tomorrow night and will discuss bike lanes on R Street. At least one commissioner opposes them. Meeting is Thursday, August 4, 2011 from 7pm to 9pm at First New Hope Baptist Church, 1818 3rd Street NE.

After a driver stopped to allow a cyclist to cross the GW Parkway, Park Police pulled him over to warn him not to do that anymore. I guess they've caught all the speeders.